4 Best Sights in Denmark

This museum is in the elegant, airy manor of Baroness Karen Blixen, who wrote Out of Africa under the pen name Isak Dinesen. The manor house, to which she returned in 1931 to write her most famous works, now displays Blixen's manuscripts, sketches, photographs, and memorabilia documenting her years in Africa. Leave time to wander around the gorgeous gardens, which also function as a bird sanctuary.

Michael and Anna Ancher are Skagen's—if not Denmark's—most famous artist couple, and their meticulously restored 1820 home and studio, Anchers Hus, is now a museum. Old oil lamps and lace curtains decorate the parlor; the doors throughout the house were painted by Michael. Anna's studio, complete with easel, is awash in the famed Skagen light. More than 240 paintings by Michael, Anna, and their daughter, Helga, grace the walls.

In Hans Christian Andersen's childhood home, where he lived in the early 1800s, the young boy and his parents lived in three tiny rooms. The rooms are outfitted with rustic, period furnishings (chairs, lamps, a table) and little else. Ticket price includes one-day admission to five Hans Christian Andersen attractions.

The favorite local landmark is the magnificent 17th-century Jens Bang's Stone House, built in 1624 by the wealthiest merchant in town. It was rumored that because he was never made a town council member, the cantankerous Bang avenged himself by caricaturing his political enemies in gargoyles all over the building and adding his own face with its tongue sticking out in the direction of town hall. The five-story Renaissance building has been the home of Aalborg's oldest pharmacy for 350 years. Note that the Aalborg tourist office is directly across the street.